Google Music, the company’s cloud music service, has been labelled an ‘oxymoron’ by outgoing Warner Music Group chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Bronfman Jr said the search giant “was still unclear about how it wants to deal with the content industry,” which had manifested itself when Google
tried to sign a music content deal with Warner.
Google was now contradicting itself in a bid to become a content player rather than just an aggregator and host, The Telegraph quoted him as saying.
Google Music was launched last November in the US only and offers a free cloud service for those listening to music and downloading tracks from the Android Market.
Warner, who is yet to sign a deal with the service, said he had no issue with Google but stressed on the need for the latter to find the correct approach to content companies like Apple.
“We see Spotify as incrementally positive. It''s not slowing down music sales or downloads. We would all love to make more money from Spotify, but Spotify needs to make money, too. But artists should know that it is a real and growing revenue stream," Bronfman said.
This statement is in stark contrast to Warner’s earlier statement:
“Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed. The get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price strategy, is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future,” he said.
Spotify, in which Warner is understood to have a small stake, announced it had signed up three million paying subscribers.